“When they take away your grandpa’s pension, say it with pride: But we have change!”
So, this happened. The “democratic” Venezuelan opposition’s dirty tricks and intimidation campaigns finally paid off…sort of. But it looks as though their honeymoon in the National Assembly is gonna be short…and NOT sweet:
The representative of the so-called Democratic Unity Table (MUD), Henrique Capriles Radonski, stated that in spite of the triumph of right-wing deputies in the National Assembly, a “very critical situation” is coming, in reference to the economic outlook.
Although the opposition repeated on several occasions that change and a new parliament would carry the country forward, this time, after winning a majority of the seats, they have already begun to justify themselves and warned that they will not be able to resolve the situation which, according to analysts, they themselves provoked, reports Telesur.
“Venezuela didn’t explode because we were waiting for the [election] results yesterday. But the crisis will go on just the same,” Capriles added, not revealing what measures will be taken in regard to this matter.
Capriles specified that the first law to be implemented will be the “Amnesty Law”, to free so-called political prisoners.
“The first in freeing our comrades is myself, so that people don’t keep saying stupid things, because in the opposition we do have differing visions,” Capriles told the media.
Capriles asserted that “the opposition obtained a qualified majority with two thirds” of seats.
[…]
The governor of Miranda said that the MUD results came thanks to the “punishment vote”, which must be converted into social power for the parties opposed to president Nicolás Maduro.
Which is to say, he admitted that it was not the leadership of the opposition, but that the people were using them as an alternative way out of the economic crisis.
Translation mine.
Well, well. So the people of “voted for change”, but in actual fact, as Capriles himself has admitted, they got NO change. And no real leadership. Just a corrupt, spinny, constantly chaos-provoking bunch who will even kill their own to get what they want, which is the PSUV out of power.
The real question here is, how did they do that? Get votes without demonstrating leadership worth voting for, I mean? And thanks to the power of the Internets, we have an answer:
An audiotape played on Wednesday on the VTV show “Con el Mazo Dando” revealed that the opposition allegedly paid 10,000 bolivars to persons who would vote for them in the elections of December 6.
“We’ve already won, the strategy was what I expected…10 ‘sticks’ apiece…10 little sticks for everyone who goes to vote for us, simple, like it or not,” stated a person known only as “Pollo” (Chicken), who was conversing with the secretary-general of the Bandera Roja (Red Flag) party, Carlos Hermoso, in a conversation on December 3.
“Pollo” assured that he already had the money, and that he had seen the bags it came in. He said that this payment would be given out in areas where the persons had sold their votes.
[…]
The person known as “Pollo” used to work at Miraflores Palace, said [PSUV] deputy Diosdado Cabello, emphasizing that he was “fully identified”.
“Pollo” passed on to Hermoso the information that on Tuesday, December 8, President Nicolás Maduro would dismiss his cabinet ministers. “On Tuesday Maduro will give a shake-up to a few people, there are a few ministers who will get their marching orders,” he said.
On Wednesday night, president Maduro ordered an in-depth investigation into the alleged buying of votes during the parliamentary elections of December 6.
Translation again, mine.
Those “sticks” they’re talking about are thousands of bolivars. Yup, that’s right. They BOUGHT those votes. 10,000 bolivars apiece. Which works out to $1,587.30 US in today’s money. That’s what an opposition “vote” goes for in Venezuela!
The only thing those people have going for them is pots of money (quite likely a lot of it came from Uncle Sam, via the NED and USAID), and that’s what they used to “win” the election. It doesn’t get much more corrupt than that!
Here’s the audio (in Spanish only):
And yes, the little chicken who sang to the false leftist leader of Bandera Roja was telling the truth about Madurito’s cabinet shake-up, too. You can read all about that here.
Fasten your seatbelts, kids, it’s gonna get very stormy over Venezuela very, VERY soon.
